AN: Sorry for the delay, heatwave was tiring, and had been doing an errand for a cousin.
Gemwing2012: Don't worry got something planned for this chapter and in the long run.
Guest 1: wait n see.
Guest 2: That's the consequences of sheltering a child.
Guest 3: Too true
Guest 4: Bullies are just the tip of the iceberg, there are many dangers and distrustful people.
Chapter 9: Garden of Attitude (part 2)
Back at the cottage, Chalice managed to alert Cuphead and Mugman.
"What?! Tazita was headed for Cagney's Garden?!" Said Mugman in panic mode
"He's going to use her hostage because of what happened the last time, we ran into him!" cried Cuphead
"Don't panic!" said Chalice "We just go in prepared"
The cups decided to arm themselves, in order to rescue Tazita from the flower.
Yes, Looks can be deceiving. You can't always tell what's going on inside a person from the outside. People put on a brave when they're trying to get over heartbreak, but that doesn't mean they have, quoting the author Alison G. Bailey.
Continuing with the story this is what happening meanwhile.
Tazita was now a prisoner courtesy of Cagney Carnation, though to be fair she did trespass. And according to him, the flower himself was napping when she fell on his face which was a painful place to cushion her fall.
She was now restrained by thorny vines, while Cagney…well all he wanted to do was grouch around his garden and make things clear he is in a very foul mood.
Some people are just difficult or at least, we have difficulty dealing with them. Some get on your nerves, bring out the worst or so.
Most of the time best advice is to give this person the benefit of the doubt. There must be some issue that makes them grumpy or grouchy. Usually if the offensive behavior is chronically bothersome, it's time to take the first step in addressing it.
"Are you in a bad mood?" asked Tazita innocently.
Cagney looked at her and replied before yelling "Let me think… Do I look like I'm in bad mood?!"
Tazita just stared and says, "With how you are yelling, and grouching about, yes. And there's no need to shout."
"So, what if I am? BIG DEAL! What's it to you?!" He snapped at the cup girl.
"What's the matter? Was your parent overprotective?"
Cagney looked at Tazita and replied "No, they were not! And I don't see how it's any of your business."
Tazita frowned and continued asking questions, "Do you always scream at people when you're being a grouchy grump like Forsythia said?"
The flower hears this and gave a cocky and cruel smirk while looking at Tazita then releases her from her binds. "What? Forsythia put you up to this? Don't you know anything?!"
Oh no, not this kind of argument again, thought Tazita. It was bad enough her aunt Ruer underestimates her then the cup boys and Chalice and now the cranky flower.
Even though it was blunt and harsh especially coming from Cagney, most folks want to shelter their kids from manipulation from toxic people, however, this is a wrong choice.
Which is precisely the problem with Tazita, she didn't notice the red flags the flower girls were giving off when ordering her around or pressuring her to do stuff she wasn't comfortable with.
"You're not very bright, those girls are just using you for their amusement. Though they did their research figuring you are friends with those scamps Cuphead and Mugman."
"What do my two friends have anything to do with anything?" asked Tazita
Despite through rants of the cantankerous flower, Tazita could only make out that the so-called noodle incident, involved Cuphead and Mugman running into Cagney, were made hostage, then forced to drive a police car. And when surrounded, Cuphead was hoping they'd surrender but Cagney stated he doesn't give up, he would go down in a blaze of glory.
It was hard to say what happened next, because he was mumbling in annoyance.
Tazita just stared and replied, "I don't know much about how the system works. But being cranky and making bad choices doesn't make you a bad person, everyone has bad days."
Then added, "And I'm sure my friends didn't mean any harm, they were just at the wrong place and the wrong time."
"Doesn't anything ever get you down?" asked Cagney, sounding annoyed.
"Some people say, I've been blessed with a sweet disposition." Tazita replied. "They like it. Or maybe they're more confused that I've haven't experienced fear."
"Oh yeah what does this do to your disposition?"
Cagney changes shape as he dug his hands in the ground. Became bigger in size with his teeth and petals becoming sharper, his stem got much larger, with more vines come out of his bottom petal.
"Wow! I didn't know you could do that. That's one way of keeping pests out." Said Tazita amazed at the sudden transformation of the flower.
"I'll do more than keep pests out," said Cagney as he uses his large vines to pick up Tazita before demanding menacingly. "My question is what were you hoping to accomplish courtesy of Forsythia?"
The cup girl shrugged, and just told him the truth, "To be fair and honest, she said I should prank you for yelling at Orchid. Partially because guys have to be nice to girls."
"Can you be any more naïve?!" he roared in her, "Not all girls deserve respect, they're just as bad as men, using trickery and manipulation to get things by force."
"Are you saying they're just as bad as the Devil, who tricks people?" Tazita asked innocently
It might have been a wrong thing to say because next thing she knew Cagney was really angry. "That's it, I'm going to mulch ya!"
The vines were constricting, and it was getting too tight for comfort. And the thorns were starting to prick. Tazita needed to get out of this position before it got messy.
She remembered in one story an advice on how to cheer grumpy people up is laughter. So, all she had to do was to make Cagney laugh.
She wondered, before reaching down, flexing her fingers and hoped flowers are ticklish.
The results had the desired effect. The vines loosened; Cagney shrunk to his previous form as her shook into an uncontrollable cry of laughter.
Tazita wasn't done she calmly walked over and began climbing up the stem occasionally tickling him with her hands and legs.
This only encouraged the cupgirl, as she reached her arms up and tickled the flower under his leaves. But it was when she reached his petals that sent him into a giggling and screaming frenzy.
He would've swatted her, but Tazita was small and quick along with how weak he was getting while laughing so much.
"Stop! Stop it!" the flower laughed as he was reverting to his previous states.
"I'll stop if you promise to calm down and hear me out at least." Said Tazita
"Alright! Alright! Just stop" He pleaded
As promised, she stopped her attack before gasps at something in concern. "Oh no!"
"What?"
"During the scuffle we must've landed on this poor flower." She said as she held it carefully, "I know the inkwell isles is known for having flowers that can speak but others like this one are helpless and can't take care of themselves…"
Tazita shows her kindness, by set it upright gently and used a nearby watering jug to give it water. "It's up to many of us to look after them."
After watering the flower, it stood up healthy as it was before being trampled. This little action seems to take Cagney by surprise, discretely.
Still, he inquired what was Tazita doing hanging with eh flower girls since they're a bad influence.
"I just want to learn to be a lady, and have Cu- I mean get a boy to like me as a girlfriend." She explained.
Cagney rolled his eyes. "Young love."
He then said, "Word of advice: The best way to find true love is to not look for it. You're too young to be thinking of romantic love. Enjoy being you and being alone with you. Once you're comfortable in your own skin, love will find you."
Tazita continued, "Yeah, but the flower girls said they'd teach me everything little girls my age do. So far, they say I dress in baby clothes and I'm underdeveloped. Whatever that last part means. Because I've been locked up all my life, no thanks to my aunt."
"What?! That's bad parenting, every sapling has to leave the field someday into the world." said Cagney before adding some advice.
"Listen kid. Who cares what they think? They're bullying you. Nothing will never be good enough for them, no matter what you do."
Tazita looks confused. "Bullying? They didn't beat me."
Cagney face palmed in exasperation. "It's different when it comes to girls. It's not limited to physical behavior. It includes insults, threats, teasing, gossiping, and social exclusion."
He adds, "Thing is society and those girls, got this pathetic idea, it's a flower stereotype saying we have to be vain, delicate and exclude anyone different from them. Not me, I rather be tough and scary."
"So, you're saying they tricked me into pulling a prank on you because you're different." Tazita questioned.
"More like retaliation because saying "no" to a suitress can lead you to such a horrible event. Which really boils my sap!" Cagney scoffed.
Tazita just stared.
"Ugh! They put you up to this hoping to get back at me for rejecting them to be a girlfriend to me. And because I like someone else that's not a plant."
"What?!" exclaimed Tazita as the info sank in.
"Precisely. Some people can't take no for an answer!"
What Cagney mentioned to Tazita was true, Rejection is a part and parcel of life. The problem was and in life it becomes complicated. Why can't a boy reject a girl if he wants to without having to face its consequences? And same if it was the other way around.
One response is that the rejected can, take it alike a champ, act like a sore loser or someone scorned because they refuse to lose.
Many a times, even after rejection, some people just fail to get the message. From stalking, to harassing, and vice versa. An ongoing problem we still see to this day, and nobody is immune to it.
A no means a NO. Period.
"A word of advice, think for yourself, instead of letting a posse boss you around." He advised.
A while later after helping fix the garden, Tazita walks back to the meeting place, finding the flower girls gossiping as usual. They were pleasantly surprised while acting calm.
"Tazita? You're alright." Said Orchid.
"How's Cagney?" asked Azalea
"Did you like our little joke?" inquired Forsythia with a nasty little smirk.
Tazita frowned "Yeah very funny. You could've mentioned he was a lot tougher than people think and there was an incident scuffle involving Cuphead n Mugman that he's sore about…"
The flowers ignored the statement as Azalea spoke.
"I got an idea; Let's play who's the lame – brain" suggested Azalea.
The flowers laughed and agreed while Tazita inquires, "What game is that?"
"It's a game where we rant criticize, about people and guess who it is," said Azalea said snidely
OK at first it didn't start off too badly. When they first started remarking on how Porkrind was a rude cheapskate, the foul-tempered bee policeman or some shady character named Jerry that dealt in suspicious behavior, alright. Tazita had a rather impartial opinion. Fine, some of it didn't sound too outlandish.
"Here's a no brainer: who's a popular pip, but too bad he's not a plant?" Azalea said.
Forsythia and Orchid giggled. "Ooh! Is it King Dice?"
"Yeah! He's cute as a bug's ear, but too bad he's old man and not a plant!"
As the flowers continued with their little guessing game, Tazita had made a face of both disgust and skepticism when they mentioned Dice. King Dice, handsome? If they only knew what he's really hiding…
"Hang on, I got one! Who's thinks they're so cute and talented with their little steps? When Swing is in?"
"Oh! I know!" Orchid giggled. "Is it Chalice?"
The three flowers all laughed.
Tazita tensed up considerably. The flower girls didn't hear or see her reaction. It kept getting worse when they kept mentioning the neighbors and people she befriended! This was too much!
She admits some of them had their flaws, but they're not all bad. Now she's just getting good and mad at those jabs, how can these flowers say or think they're better than them? Just because they're not plants?
But the last straw was when they immediately start making cruel comments about her crush and his brother.
"OK, I got one! I got one! Who's a worrywart and a hypocrite? Says to play it safe only to go with the flow anyway?"
"Is it Mugman?" laughed one of the flowers.
"Who's a try hard and a show off daredevil? Keeps saying I ain't too worried about it?"
"Oh, I got it, Cuphead is the lame brain!"
Like a boiling kettle, Tazita's anger grew hot. So much the milk in her cup was bubbling and frothing.
"That's it I had enough of you and your mean comments. If you ask me, you are not better than the devil." Tazita snapped.
She continued, "Cagney and Cuphead were right about you. You are shallow as a puddle. And I'm starting to see that your would-be joke was also petty excuse to prank him just because he rejected you."
"Snappish…" The flowers said in unison.
"Yeah right, those are just rumors involving the devil are off base." Orchid rolled her eyes.
"I don't know even we're not crazy enough to ask him for assistance…" said Azalea, "Did I say that aloud?"
Cagney then loomed behind Tazita, much to her surprise.
"I see some kiddies can't do anything without an adult to hold their hand." Sneered Forsythia to Tazita.
She was clearly making a jab at her, for having an adult present as she confronted them. But this adult won't take it laying down.
"Shut your mouth!" Cagney retorted, "You always were a hypocrite. And I'm only here make things clear: I never liked you and cuz of you're a spoiled brat who thinks everything's about you."
"I told you before this kind of game brings me and my SO closer. And guarantee I won't ever hook up with you!" he added.
Now Forsythia looked angry. "You're still choosing to date outside your species, instead of me?!"
"No, me!" Azalea had looked offended.
Orchid then piped up angrily, "Me!"
The flowers had begun to shout out how they were better. They're fight is broken up as some fiery vortex appears shooting some lights at the flower girls. And some creepy looking eyes began swirling about.
The flower girls run away in fear, disappearing into the forest. Tazita looks back curiously while Cagney was surprisingly calm with a knowing smirk.
The fiery vortex turned out to be from two cloud like twins before changing into a red zeppelin lady while the eyes vanished before another figure emerged.
It was another ghost that was light blue with an empty eye socket, coincidently the same yellow eyes were in the holes of his palms.
They waved to Cagney, tranquilly. It was obvious these two individuals were his friends.
A while later after bidding Cagney goodbye, Tazita was now happily walking back.
To her amusement and shock, she saw Cuphead, Mugman with Chalice charging into the forest passing by her. They stop before realizing the cup girl was standing on the path unharmed.
"Tazita are you ok?" asked Mugman
"Don't worry we'll protect you from that crazy plant" said Cuphead
"Guy's it's ok. Cagney's my friend"
"What are you crazy? He probably threatened you." Said Chalice
"No, really. He is my friend and he explained things more clearly," said Tazita. "I thought about what you guys said."
The three cups looked at her as she explained, "You guys were right, the flower girls were just using me for their mean ideas"
"It's about time." Cuphead smiled while Mugman nodded along with Chalice.
"So how about we leave and go get some ice cream sodas?" asked Tazita
"Good idea." They replied.
"Say guys, how about we meet these two girls I met earlier more properly, Ginger and Cora"
"Sure, they're alright." The other cups said nodding in approval.
Another day was finishing with astounding results for our heroes. But there are many individuals and faces for our young heroine to meet and learn from. Still, she would have to put off reuniting with her aunt to find out her past. However more importantly her friends keeping her safe from old scratch himself.
AN: Most of the references are from the leaked bits of script in the would-be episode where Cagney would've appeared but the writers had the lame idea to air the *yawn* filler episode ones.
And I'll leave it ambiguous for the fans which shipping is preferable.